Bleach: Rasenhiden/Tropes
A-G A Boy and his Ghost: Ahatake pretty much thinks of everything that goes on around him and Kayla as some variant of this. : "I'm grateful you're here. And we both need each other. The lost little soul and the boy who can see the dead...we're a weird duo." Big Fancy Castle: 'Ahatake's inner world is probably the most extensive seen in a ''BLEACH ''series, taking the form of a thousand year-old Big Fancy Castle with large grounds, trap doors, and at least seven stories (not including dungeons). Anyone whose read the ''Harry Potter series will instantly know his inner-world is based on Hogwarts. '''Celestial Bureaucracy: Soul Society is run this way, with authority from the (absentee) Soul King delegated to the (civilian) Central 46, which in turn commands the (military) Gotei 13. The bureaucracy has been in place for at least 1000 years and is just about as crusty and hide-bound as you'd expect. It's not an exaggeration to say that a good 75% of all the nonsense that goes down in Bleach is because of Soul Society being poorly governed. Close-Call Haircut: '''Happens to Ahatake early in the series. This is his Berserk Button. '''Crapsack World: '''The Rukongai is very much this, and Kayla doesn't mince words when she describes it. '''Cut Short: '''Rasenhiden very nearly suffered this when Darkrai and Per simply got fed up with the fanon wiki due to an incident on a blog, and ceased editing for awhile. As such, the contributions to Rasenhiden stopped. Thankfully, they returned and the series is back in full swing. '''Dead To Begin With: A lot of the characters are post-death spirits. They can still die, however, since the story is influenced by the Buddhist wheel of samsara theme. Kayla is the truest example of this, as she and Ahatake even discuss it. Damsel in Distress: '''Harumi in the Soul Society Arc, a la Rukia from the canon Soul Society arc. '''Darker and Edgier: The Soul Society arc was the start of this. While the Substitute in Flames arc was fairly relaxed until it's Wham Episode, the Soul Society Arc, not even two chapters into the arc has the Gotei 13 Captains not only preparing for war, but arguing amongst themselves, showing that the stress of an invasion after a 200 year peace is already taking it's toll. Don't Fear the Reaper: This trope is in force for the most part. The shinigami are just like humans: they can be friendly, moody, supportive, scary, hostile depending on situation or individual personality type. However, shinigami aren't enemies of humanity even if their focus on the big picture can make them seem aloof at times. Their role is to guide the dead to Soul Society, cleanse hollows of post-death sin so they too can be guided to Soul Society and also to maintain the balance of souls across different worlds. In other words, shinigami are portrayed the same way humans are portrayed: as individuals with their own personalities, worries, fears, foibles, strengths and weaknesses. Early-Bird Cameo: 'Entenryū and Yuriko Tomomi, though a borderline example, debuted in the third chaper of the ''Substitute In Flames Arc, despite not doing anything of note until a few chapters later. '''Foreshadowing: Quite a bit, and probably better than Kubo. One of the better known instances was when Entenryū and Yuriko were discussing the unfolding events, they alluded to the existence of Menos Grande. The fact that they knew any of this doubled as foreshadowing of their knowledge of the spiritual world. H-P No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine/Captive Date: '''Ahatake gets stuck in a mixture of these two early on in the story with Kōyuri. It doesn't bode well for the girl's sanity. Kōyuri even outright says the first trope word-for-word, merely replacing Mr. Bond with Ahatake's name. '''The Other Darrin: Actually invoked, Darkrai is unable to portray Yandere-type characters, he's never used one, and they've never been his thing, however, Per excels at it, and she is the one who portrays Kōyuri during here Yandere moments because of this. Q-V Recycled Script: In true BLEACH' fashion, the first arc of ''Rasenihiden is essentially the Agent of the Shinigami Arc with better pacing, and the second arc, even called the Soul Society Arc is essentially the ''Soul Society Arc, ''again, without Arc Fatigue. *However, with assistance from a friend, Darkrai and Per were able to devise a decent plotline that differs enough from the canon Soul Society arc that Rasenhiden's can be considered it's own. Thank God. '''Tagline: "Star from a new beginning." Notably, it shares this tagline with Pokémon Black and White. Take That!: Kayla to (presumably), the God of Israel, or more commonly the God known in Christianity. Considering He doesn't exactly exist in the BLEACH universe, the effect is diminished, but it was a nice touch to her speech about how awful the Rukongai is. Training From Hell: '''Parodied. Harumi put Ahatake through some tough (read: throw him into the air, let him try and catch himself in mid-air) training, but after hours of simply crashing into cars, Ahatake realizes he learns through his body, not through standard training...not that what he was doing could be called standard in the first place! W-Z '''Yandere: Kōyuri Hirekidoku, full fucking stop. Along with this, and her off-base logic of capturing Ahatake's female friends before forcing him to love her, she's oddly disturbing for an arc villain because of how utterly cheerful she acts when she's not obsessing over Ahatake. Due to her status as a Yandere, Darkrai had to invoke The Other Darrin, and have her portrayed by Per in those moments.